UK’s parliamentary group calls for an end to publication of hate content against Pakistani minorities

UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pakistani Minorities has called for an end to publication of hate content against Pakistani minorities. For this reason, the group called on the Department for International Development to make sure that the aid given by UK is used efficaciously to end publication of textbooks that contain hate content against non-Muslim Pakistanis.

For this purpose the group passed a resolution during its recent meeting. The participants also discussed the education crisis hovering over the minorities in Pakistan. Jim Shannon, the Democratic Unionist Party’s MP who chairs this group, said: “these vulnerable and marginalised communities” should not be “ignored by the Pakistani and British governments”.

In this regard, the group urged the Government of Pakistan and the international agencies to give priority to the minority population in Pakistan. “Poverty, prejudice, and social unease are depriving a generation of young people from taking their proper place in Pakistan’s future because of the poor access to good education,” group’s chairperson said.

“We need to ensure that these vulnerable and marginalized communities are not ignored by the Pakistani and British governments, and that a part of billions of pounds of the UK taxpayers’ aid sent to Pakistan through the Department for International Development is used to ensure that students from the religious minorities are not left behind on the path to development.”

In this regard, a spokesman for Department for International Development stated: “The UK Government does not fund the production of textbooks in Pakistan, and we strongly condemn all forms of incitement to violence. UK aid is supporting provincial governments to improve school curriculum, and promotes values of inclusion, diversity, and religious tolerance.

“In a country where two-thirds of women cannot read or write, our support is crucial to giving the most vulnerable the skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty, and we have helped educate nine million primary-school children since 2011. A more prosperous and inclusive country will improve stability and security in Pakistan and the UK — which is firmly in our national interests.”